Making friends;

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ATLANTA
BALTIMORE
BIRMINGHAM HASKINS & SELLS PHILADELPHIA
PITTSBURGH
BOSTON PORTLAND
BUFFALO CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
PROVIDENCE
SAINT LOUIS
CHICAGO SALT LAKE CITY
CINCINNATI SAN DIEGO
CLEVELAND BULLETIN SAN FRANCISCO
DALLAS SEATTLE
DENVER TULSA
DETROIT WATERTOWN
KANSAS CITY LOS ANGELES MINNEAPOLIS HAVANA
NEWARK LONDON
NEW ORLEANS EXECUTIVE OFFICES PARIS
NEW YORK HASKINS & SELLS BUILDING
37 WEST 39TH ST., NEW YORK SHANGHAI
VOL. V I I NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1924 No. 1
Making Friends
I AM resolved that of each person with
whom my daily life brings me in con­tact
I will endeavor to make a friend."
Attribute this philosophy to whomever one
may, it will not be found unworthy. Plato,
Roosevelt, or plain Henry Jenkins from the
innermost recesses of the backwoods, may
have said it and lived it with equal satis­faction.
Plato may have regarded friendship as
an instrument for increasing his influence
in furthering human improvement. Roose­velt
may have sought wide friendship as a
means to enlarged political or other power.
Jenkins may aspire to friendship because
he is naturally sociable and loves his
fellowmen.
Now Jenkins may typify the present-day
practising public accountant. This sug­gestion,
however, is much too naive.
Modern society is too sagacious to be thus
led astray. It seeks constantly for motives.
Even a hinted discussion of friendship in
relation to accountancy is a signal to the
mental mechanism to begin on a search for
the motive. The process is a short one—
cultivation of friendship; ergo, increased
practice. The conclusion is obvious, alike
to the cynical and the credulous.
But there is friendship and friendship.
One kind of friend lends money on request;
another listens patiently to a recital of
personal woes and troubles. Business
friendship is more likely to be based on
regard and admiration for punctilious
attention to business matters, scholarly
thought concerning, and treatment of,
business problems and high moral concep­tions
of business responsibilities.
The making of friends is an important
factor in the success of a public accountant.
A pleasant smile, a hearty and genuine
hand-shake, courtesy, and consideration
for others, generate and continue good-will.
And good-will, in legal verbiage, is "of the
essence." But good-will in accountancy is
founded on something more than affability,
namely, the rock of professional accom-